Akasanancayatana

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¤k¤s¤, ¤k¤s¤na¾c¤yatana

Pali	MO	Hare	Horner	Punnaji	Bodhi	Rhys Davids	(Mrs)Rhys Davids	Thanissaro	Walshe	Woodward
¤k¤s¤ na¾c¤yatana	space, the realm of limitless space		ether, the plane of infinite ether		space, the base of infinite space	space, the infinity of space		space, the sphere of the infinitude of space	space, the sphere of infinite space

Pali Text Society, Pali English Dictionary:
£k¤s¤: [Sk. ¤k¤.sa fr. ¤+k¤.s, lit shining forth, the illuminated space] air, sky, atmosphere; space. +¤na¾c¤(=the un-limited) the infinity of &+ayatana(=the sphere, or Realm or area of) the sphere or plane of the infinity of space, the "space-infinity-plane", the sphere forms the first one of the 4 (or 6) higher attainments or recognitions of the mind, standing beyond the fourth jh¤na viz. 1. ¤k¤s¤ 2. vi¾¾¤¼¤ 3. ¤ki¾ca¾¾¤ 4. n'eva sa¾¾¤n¤n¤sa¾¾ 5. nirodha 6. phala D I.34, 183; II.70, 112, 156; III 224, 262; M I 41, 159; III 27, 44; S V.119.s

Imagine flying high above New York City at night (you are in a "plain" but it is one without seats and walls and flight attendants), with it's millions of lights. You know there are millions of beings there but you see none of them. Then you withdraw your awareness from the lights of the city and make yourself aware only of the limitless blackness of the night. Something like that.

"shining forth" need not be thought of as with "light", but should be thought of as by clear perceptability.

This is a location, not the jhana itself. The location is arrived at by way of the jhana, and this is the state of "living in, making a habitat of" this jhana.

Bodhi/Nanamoli describe entering the sphere this way: "not attending to the perception of forest, not attending to the perception of earth -- [he] attends to the singleness dependent on the perception of the base of infinite space" [The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness

From this one can see that describing this as a state necessarily beyond the Fourth Jhana is going too far. Usually one finds the formula for entering this state as: "Not paying attention to any material thing..." or "...to resistance" or "...to comparisons between this and that."